Evolution of the α2-adrenoreceptors in vertebrates: ADRA2D is absent in mammals and crocodiles

Modulating vertebrate physiology by genomic fine-tuning of GPCR functions

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play a crucial role as membrane receptors, facilitating the communication of eukaryotic species with their environment and regulating cellular and organ interactions. Consequently, GPCRs hold immense potential in contributing to adaptation to ecological niches and responding to environmental shifts. Comparative analyses of vertebrate genomes reveal patterns of GPCR gene loss, expansion, and signatures of selection. Integrating these genomic data with insights from functional analyses of gene variants enables the interpretation of genotype-phenotype correlations. This review underscores the involvement of GPCRs in adaptive processes, presenting numerous examples of how alterations in GPCR functionality influence vertebrate physiology or, conversely, how environmental changes impact GPCR functions. The findings demonstrate that modifications in GPCR function contribute to adapting to aquatic, arid, and nocturnal habitats, influencing camouflage strategies, and specializing in particular dietary preferences. Furthermore, the adaptability of GPCR functions provides an effective mechanism in facilitating past, recent, or ongoing adaptations in animal domestication and human evolution and should be considered in therapeutic strategies and drug development.

Evolution and divergence of teleost adrenergic receptors: why sometimes 'the drugs don't work' in fish

Adrenaline and noradrenaline, released as hormones and/or neurotransmitters, exert diverse physiological functions in vertebrates, and teleost fishes are widely used as model organisms to study adrenergic regulation; however, such investigations often rely on receptor subtype-specific pharmacological agents (agonists and antagonists; see Glossary) developed and validated in mammals. Meanwhile, evolutionary (phylogenetic and comparative genomic) studies have begun to unravel the diversification of adrenergic receptors (ARs) and reveal that whole-genome duplications and pseudogenization events in fishes results in notable distinctions from mammals in their genomic repertoire of ARs, while lineage-specific gene losses within teleosts have generated significant interspecific variability. In this Review, we visit the evolutionary history of ARs (including α1-, α2- and β-ARs) to highlight the prominent interspecific differences in teleosts, as well as between teleosts and other vertebrates. We also show that structural modelling of teleost ARs predicts differences in ligand binding affinity compared with mammalian orthologs. To emphasize the difficulty of studying the roles of different AR subtypes in fish, we collate examples from the literature of fish ARs behaving atypically compared with standard mammalian pharmacology. Thereafter, we focus on specific case studies of the liver, heart and red blood cells, where our understanding of AR expression has benefited from combining pharmacological approaches with molecular genetics. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing advances in 'omics' technologies that, alongside classical pharmacology, will provide abundant opportunities to further explore adrenergic signalling in teleosts.

How Many Sirtuin Genes Are Out There? Evolution of Sirtuin Genes in Vertebrates With a Description of a New Family Member

Studying the evolutionary history of gene families is a challenging and exciting task with a wide range of implications. In addition to exploring fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of genes, disentangling their evolution is also critical to those who do functional/structural studies to allow a deeper and more precise interpretation of their results in an evolutionary context. The sirtuin gene family is a group of genes that are involved in a variety of biological functions mostly related to aging. Their duplicative history is an open question, as well as the definition of the repertoire of sirtuin genes among vertebrates. Our results show a well-resolved phylogeny that represents an improvement in our understanding of the duplicative history of the sirtuin gene family. We identified a new sirtuin gene family member (SIRT3.2) that was apparently lost in the last common ancestor of amniotes but retained in all other groups of jawed vertebrates. According to our experimental analyses, elephant shark SIRT3.2 protein is located in mitochondria, the overexpression of which leads to an increase in cellular levels of ATP. Moreover, in vitro analysis demonstrated that it has deacetylase activity being modulated in a similar way to mammalian SIRT3. Our results indicate that there are at least eight sirtuin paralogs among vertebrates and that all of them can be traced back to the last common ancestor of the group that existed between 676 and 615 millions of years ago.

ADRA2B and HTR1A: An Updated Study of the Biogenic Amine Receptors Reveals Novel Conserved Motifs Which Play Key Role in Mental Disorders

Mental disorders are strongly connected with several psychiatric conditions including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, eating disorder, and suicides. There are many biological conditions and pathways that define these complicated illnesses. For example, eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that require the intervention of geneticists, psychiatrists, and medical experts in order to alleviate their symptoms. A patient with suicidal ideation should first be identified and consequently monitored by a similar team of specialists. Both genetics and epigenetics can shed light on eating disorders and suicides as they are found in the main core of such investigations. In the present study, an analysis has been performed on two specific members of the GPCR family toward drawing conclusions regarding their functionality and implementation in mental disorders. Specifically, evolutionary and structural studies on the adrenoceptor alpha 2b (ADRA2B) and the 5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 1A (HTR1A) have been carried out. Both receptors are classified in the biogenic amine receptors sub-cluster of the GPCRs and have been connected in many studies with mental diseases and malnutrition conditions. The major goal of this study is the investigation of conserved motifs among biogenic amine receptors that play an important role in this family signaling pathway, through an updated evolutionary analysis and the correlation of this information with the structural features of the HTR1A and ADRA2B. Furthermore, the structural comparison of ADRA2B, HTR1A, and other members of GPCRs related to mental disorders is performed.

Stress-induced changes in body surface temperature are repeatable, but do not differ between urban and rural birds

Urbanisation can alter local microclimates, thus creating new thermal challenges for resident species. However, urban environments also present residents with frequent, novel stressors (e.g., noise, human interaction) which may demand investment in costly, self-preserving responses (e.g., the fight-or-flight response). One way that urban residents might cope with this combination of demands is by using regional heterothermy to reduce costs of thermoregulation during the stress response. In this study, we used black-capped chickadees (n_urban = 9; n_rural = 10) to test whether known heterothermic responses to stress exposure (here, at the bare skin around the eye): (1) varied consistently among individuals (i.e., were repeatable), and (2) were most pronounced among urban individuals compared with rural individuals. Further, to gather evidence for selection on stress-induced heterothermic responses in urban settings, we tested: (3) whether repeatability of this response was lower among birds sampled from urban environments compared with those sampled from rural environments. For the first time, we show that heterothermic responses to stress exposures (i.e. changes in body surface temperature) were highly repeatable across chronic time periods (R = 0.58) but not acute time periods (R = 0.13). However, we also show that these responses did not differ between urban and rural birds, nor were our repeatability estimates any lower in our urban sample. Thus, while regional heterothermy during stress exposure may provide energetic benefits to some, but not all, individuals, enhanced use of this response to cope with urban pressures appears unlikely in our study species.

Role of α2-Adrenoceptor Subtypes in Suppression of L-Type Ca2+ Current in Mouse Cardiac Myocytes

Sarcolemmal α2 adrenoceptors (α2-AR), represented by α2A, α2B and α2C isoforms, can safeguard cardiac muscle under sympathoadrenergic surge by governing Ca²⁺ handling and contractility of cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocyte-specific targeting of α2-AR would provide cardiac muscle-delimited stress control and enhance the efficacy of cardiac malfunction treatments. However, little is known about the specific contribution of the α2-AR subtypes in modulating cardiomyocyte functions. Herein, we analyzed the expression profile of α2A, α2B and α2C subtypes in mouse ventricle and conducted electrophysiological antagonist assay evaluating the contribution of these isoforms to the suppression of L-type Ca²⁺ current (I_CaL). Patch-clamp electro-pharmacological studies revealed that the α2-agonist-induced suppression of I_CaL involves mainly the α2C, to a lesser extent the α2B, and not the α2A isoforms. RT-qPCR evaluation revealed the presence of adra2b and adra2c (α2B and α2C isoform genes, respectively), but was unable to identify the expression of adra2a (α2A isoform gene) in the mouse left ventricle. Immunoblotting confirmed the presence only of the α2B and the α2C proteins in this tissue. The identified α2-AR isoform-linked regulation of I_CaL in the mouse ventricle provides an important molecular substrate for the cardioprotective targeting.

Effect of Dinotefuran, Permethrin, and Pyriproxyfen (Vectra® 3D) on the Foraging and Blood-Feeding Behaviors of Aedes albopictus Using Laboratory Rodent Model

Simple Summary

Tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) is a harmful vector involved in the transmission of several diseases to humans and their pets. Currently, several veterinary products are used to prevent pets against bites of arthropod vectors. However, there is no available information on the effect of these products on feeding and host choice behaviors of Aedes albopictus in the presence of treated and untreated hosts, as is the case of treated dogs present in close physical contact with their owners. The present study investigated the effect of a spot-on product (Vectra^® 3D) on the feeding and host choice behaviours of Aedes albopictus when treated and untreated hosts are presents. Laboratory rodent model was performed to simulate the natural conditions. Rat and mouse hosts were alternately treated with Vectra^® 3D and exposed simultaneously to starved mosquitoes. Results showed that Vectra^® 3D-treated hosts are perfectly protected against up to 82% of mosquitoes. While up to 21% of mosquitoes were repelled from untreated hosts when these latter are present in close physical contact (30 cm) with treated ones suggesting an indirect protection that can allowed the protection of owners who treat their pets with Vectra^® 3D.

Abstract

Dinotefuran-Permethrin-Pyriproxyfen (DPP) is used to kill and repel mosquitoes from dogs. However, the influence of the product on the host-seeking behavior of mosquitoes remains unknown. The interference of DPP with the host selection of unfed female Aedes albopictus was investigated. A total of 18 animals (9 mice and 9 rats) were divided into three groups of six animals each. DU: DPP treated rats (n = 3) with untreated mice (n = 3), UD: DPP treated mice (n = 3) with untreated rats (n = 3) and control UU: untreated mice (n = 3) and untreated rats (n = 3). In each group, the rats and mice were placed 30 cm apart. After sedation, the animals in each group were exposed twice (Day 1 and Day 7 post-treatment) for one hour to 71 ± 3 female mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were categorized after the 2-h post-exposure period as dead or alive. Blood-meal origin was determined from mosquitoes using a newly customized duplex qPCR. The highest values of forage ratio (1.36 ≥ wi ≤ 1.88) and selection index (0.63 ≥ Bi ≤ 0.94) for rat hosts indicates a preference of mosquitoes for this species as compared to mice when co-housed during the exposure. The mosquitoes only seldom fed on mice, even in the untreated group. The anti-feeding effect of DPP was therefore only assessed on rat’s hosts. The results showed that DPP, when directly applied on rats, provided a direct protection of 82% and 61% on Day 1 and Day 7, respectively, while when applied on mice hosts (UD), the DPP provided an indirect protection of 21% and 10% on Day 1 and Day 7, respectively. The results showed also that DPP, when applied on rats, provided a direct protection against Ae. albopictus bites. This effect did not result in increased exposure of the untreated host placed in the same cage at a distance of 30 cm.

Is Endothermy an Evolutionary By-Product?

Endothermy alters the energetic relationships between organisms and their environment and thereby influences fundamental niches. Endothermy is closely tied to energy metabolism. Regulation of energy balance is indispensable for all life and regulatory pathways increase in complexity from bacteria to vertebrates. Increasing complexity of metabolic networks also increase the probability for endothermic phenotypes to appear. Adaptive arguments are problematic epistemologically because the regulatory mechanisms enabling endothermy have not evolved for the 'purpose' of endothermy and the utility of current traits is likely to have changed over evolutionary time. It is most parsimonious to view endothermy as the evolutionary by-product of energy balance regulation rather than as an adaptation and interpret its evolution in the context of metabolic networks.

Early response of salmonid head-kidney cells to stress hormones and toll-like receptor ligands

The functional spectrum of the teleostean head kidney covers haematopoietic, immune and endocrine signalling pathways with physiological effects that are likely to conflict if activated at the same time. An in vivo experiment on the salmonid fish maraena whitefish (Coregonus maraena) revealed that the head kidney shows a remarkably strong response after injection of Aeromonas salmonicida within 48 h. In order to investigate the potential influence of endocrine signalling on the initiation of immune responses, we established a primary culture of head-kidney cells of maraena whitefish. For the characterisation of this model system, we used flow cytometry complemented with an extensive panel of immunological/haematological and stress-physiological/neuroendocrinological qPCR assays. More than one third of the cells expressed the characteristic signature of myeloid cells, while more than half of the cells expressed those genes typical for lymphocytes and monocytes. In parallel, we quantified the expression of genes encoding endocrine receptors and identified ADRA2D as by far the most highly expressed adrenergic-receptor gene in head-kidney cells. The stimulation of the head-kidney cells with toll-like receptor ligands induced the expression of typical immune genes (IL1B, CXCL8, TNF, SAA) after only 1 h. The incubation with the stress hormones cortisol, adrenaline and noradrenaline also had an immune-activating effect, though less pronounced. However, cortisol had the strongest suppressive effect on the stimulation-induced immune response, while adrenaline exerted a comparably weaker effect and noradrenaline was almost ineffective. Moreover, we found that cortisol reduced the expression of genes coding for adrenergic and some glucocorticoid receptors, while noradrenaline increased it. In conclusion, the primary head-kidney cells of maraena whitefish reflect the immunological and neuroendocrinological diversity of the entire organ. This in vitro system allowed thus identifying the correlative changes between the activities of hormones and immune factors in salmonid fish in order to contribute to a better understanding of the regulation circuit between stress and immune defence.

Sarcolemmal α2-adrenoceptors in feedback control of myocardial response to sympathetic challenge

α2-adrenoceptor (α2-AR) isoforms, abundant in sympathetic synapses and noradrenergic neurons of the central nervous system, are integral in the presynaptic feed-back loop mechanism that moderates norepinephrine surges. We recently identified that postsynaptic α2-ARs, found in the myocellular sarcolemma, also contribute to a muscle-delimited feedback control capable of attenuating mobilization of intracellular Ca²⁺ and myocardial contractility. This previously unrecognized α2-AR-dependent rheostat is able to counteract competing adrenergic receptor actions in cardiac muscle. Specifically, in ventricular myocytes, nitric oxide (NO) and cGMP are the intracellular messengers of α2-AR signal transduction pathways that gauge the kinase-phosphatase balance and manage cellular Ca²⁺ handling preventing catecholamine-induced Ca²⁺ overload. Moreover, α2-AR signaling counterbalances phospholipase C - PKC-dependent mechanisms underscoring a broader cardioprotective potential under sympathoadrenergic and angiotensinergic challenge. Recruitment of such tissue-specific features of α2-AR under sustained sympathoadrenergic drive may, in principle, be harnessed to mitigate or prevent cardiac malfunction. However, cardiovascular disease may compromise peripheral α2-AR signaling limiting pharmacological targeting of these receptors. Prospective cardiac-specific gene or cell-based therapeutic approaches aimed at repairing or improving stress-protective α2-AR signaling may offer an alternative towards enhanced preservation of cardiac muscle structure and function.

Evolution of dopamine receptors: phylogenetic evidence suggests a later origin of the DRD2l and DRD4rs dopamine receptor gene lineages

Dopamine receptors are integral membrane proteins whose endogenous ligand is dopamine. They play a fundamental role in the central nervous system and dysfunction of dopaminergic neurotransmission is responsible for the generation of a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. From an evolutionary standpoint, phylogenetic relationships among the DRD₁ class of dopamine receptors are still a matter of debate as in the literature different tree topologies have been proposed. In contrast, phylogenetic relationships among the DRD₂ group of receptors are well understood. Understanding the time of origin of the different dopamine receptors is also an issue that needs further study, especially for the genes that have restricted phyletic distributions (e.g., DRD_2l and DRD_4rs). Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the evolution of dopamine receptors, with emphasis on shedding light on the phylogenetic relationships among the D₁ class of dopamine receptors and the time of origin of the DRD_2l and DRD_4rs gene lineages. Our results recovered the monophyly of the two groups of dopamine receptors. Within the DRD₁ group the monophyly of each paralog was recovered with strong support, and phylogenetic relationships among them were well resolved. Within the DRD₁ class of dopamine receptors we recovered the sister group relationship between the DRD_1C and DRD_1E, and this clade was recovered sister to a cyclostome sequence. The DRD₁ clade was recovered sister to the aforementioned clade, and the group containing DRD₅ receptors was sister to all other DRD₁ paralogs. In agreement with the literature, among the DRD₂ class of receptors, DRD₂ was recovered sister to DRD₃, whereas DRD₄ was sister to the DRD₂/DRD₃ clade. According to our phylogenetic tree, the DRD_2l and DRD_4rs gene lineages would have originated in the ancestor of gnathostomes between 615 and 473 mya. Conservation of sequences required for dopaminergic neurotransmission and small changes in regulatory regions suggest a functional refinement of the dopaminergic pathways along evolution.